Collégiale Saint-Martin de Champeaux, Champeaux

The former collegiate church of Saint-Martin de Champeaux is a Catholic parish church, located in Champeaux, in the French department of Seine-et-Marne. It replaces an older abbey church, where a chapter of twelve secular canons had replaced the religious in the early twelfth century. It was placed under the protection of the bishop of Paris, and began the construction of a new church around 1160. Its dimensions are particularly imposing: with a length of 65 m, it is one of the largest Gothic churches of the 12th and 13th centuries in the Île-de-France region. This also explains the slowness of the construction, which was interrupted between 1220 and 1270, and the austerity of the architecture.

Indeed, there is no triforium, and the windows are provided with networks only in the choir aisles. This does not exclude a careful execution, with particularly fine monolithic columns and capitals of great quality. Despite the length of the construction site, the stylistic coherence of the whole is assured. The influences of the cathedrals of Paris and Sens can be identified. The Renaissance stalls and the remarkable stained glass windows are among the notable artistic achievements of the 15th and 16th centuries in the Paris region. In spite of its size, the collegiate church did not serve as a parish church between 1242 and 1790, and was therefore only used for the celebrations of the canons, of whom there were twenty-three between 1208 and 1594, and then twelve again.

The French Revolution put an end to the existence of the chapter, and Champeaux lost its role as chief town of the provostry of the chapter, which extended over a number of seigneuries. The collegiate church became a parish church, and was classified as a historical monument by the 1840 list. However, the restoration of the collegiate church was delayed until the end of the 19th century, and only just saved the immense building from ruin, although it was not complete. Today, the old collegiate church of Saint-Martin is finally restored; it retains its vocation as a place of worship for the parish of Mormant, and Sunday masses continue to be celebrated there throughout the year.